I lie there for a few hours with Jack, doing nothing but surveying my surroundings. There are numerous scratches on the wall, suggesting I'm not the first person to be locked in here. Some of the scratches appear incredibly old while others seem brand new, the dust barely settled. The scratch marks are mostly indecipherable, age having nearly worn them out of existence, the odd letter the only indication of absent words.

The marks seem randomly placed, some at strange slants while others parallel to the ground, all of the discernable words the nonsensical ramblings of deranged minds, the assortment of letters seemingly random, like some sort of code.

Absentmindedly, I begin to trace the letters, immersing myself in the task of deciphering their meaning but coming up with nothing. The closest I get to something meaningful is the word 'shifter', preceded by a mass of mismatched lines of varying length and width. Shifter is sort of obvious: he's a werewolf. He's in a werewolf pack.

Unless he isn't; that would explain why no one seems to stand up to him.

It's very uncommon for another supernatural species to be this far north and inland so that rules out merfolk. Vampires would never collude with us unless they have no choice, witches often prefer the nomadic lifestyle, and no siren would have a voice like his. That leaves only dryads but some sixth sense tells me that he's not that either.

He could be a god.

No. It's not possible.

Yes it is.

They don't exist Jack.

They do. We have evidence.

What evidence?

A guy went to the underworld and came back with his son.

Tall tales.

No. It's true. He brought his kid back with him.

They're lying.

His kid was dead. He's alive now of course but the kid was dead Iz. There's no coming back from that unless you are resurrected by the gods.

Which god then? Not Selene though. She's female and wouldn't hurt the very people who worship her.

Agreed. Not Aphrodite. As the goddess of love, sirens, and temptation, I doubt this is how she would use her powers. And she's female.

Not Hades. He's too powerful for this to be him. Why would he demean himself like this?

Mmm. The same applies to Poseiden.

Or Hectate.

It could be her. She can do magic so she could make herself appear and sound male.

Maybe. But why would she associate herself with werewolves? We don't worship her, only witches do.

There are other gods. Minor ones as well as the 12 well known ones.

That just means we have more people to rule out. We could be here for the rest of life and we still wouldn't have ruled out every Greek myth.

We can ascertain what it's not. It's a humanoid. It doesn't have blood so it's definitely a god. They have ichor rather than blood. That doesn't change regardless of the form they choose to take to communicate with mortals.

We know it's someone or something who can change or hide their gender, and has a good motive.

Like?

I don't know! Why would I know?

She mentally sighs.

Iz, I think we should leave this topic for a moment. We're just getting stressed.

What else is there to do?

Work out what the first part of the word is. There were obviously some letters before the word shifter.

We know it has a hyphen.

And a -

She is cut off by the grating screech of the cell door opening, causing us to spring to our feet in anticipation, ready for a fight. The Praetorian strides in, dragging someone behind him. They give a small yelp and I gasp in shock.

It's Carrie.

He throws her towards me and I quickly catch her, pulling her into my arms.

"Why?"

"She trespassed." He answers, sweeping back out the room with a whirl of his cloak, slamming the door behind him, bolting and locking it.

I kneel down for Carrie.

"What happened sweetheart?" I ask her, hugging her gently, tear drops wetting her cheeks. She buries her face in my shoulder, her small arms encircling my waist.

"I was w-with Gwen when the dark man came. He said I-I should go with him and when I was too slow, he picked me up and dragged me here."

"I'm sorry about this Carrie. We're going to get you out of here as soon as possible, okay sweetheart?"

She gives me a small nod. I try to think of something to distract her from our current predicament.

"Carrie, what's your favourite colour?"

"Green. Like a tree."

"And favourite animal?"

"Cat. I have a pet cat."

"Really, what's he called?"

"Mr Meow."

"Did you know you're very unusual Carrie? Most werewolves hate cats."

"How could you hate cats? They're so good at killing vermin!"

"They are very good at that, I will admit. Who are your parents?" I need to find out her parents to make it easier to return her to them.

"I don't know."

Who abandons their child? This does make our job easier though. We don't have to find her parents this way; she doesn't even know who they are.

"Are you okay Isobel?"

"Sorry, what?" My head snaps up at Carrie's question, my brain no longer registering anything she's saying.

"You're crying. And your arm is all red and swollen."

I take a glance at my arm only to realise the arm the Praetorian injected the wolf suppressant into is exactly as she said and my eyes are streaming, my skin itchy. Great.

"What's wrong?" She asks curiously.

"I'm having an allergic reaction" I sigh.

"What's an allergic reaction?"

"It's when your body decides it doesn't like a substance and the substance starts making you ill."

"What are you allergicing to?"

"It's allergic sweetheart, not allergicing. And I think I'm allergic to the wolf suppressant."

"What's wolf suppressant?"

"The dark man injected me with it when he dragged me here. It means I can't heal or contact my mate."

"But that's wrong!"

"Sometimes it's just what life hands you and you just have to learn how to work around it and not give up hope."

We sit in silence for a few minutes, my neck and chest beginning to hurt.

"Is there anything physically wrong with me Carrie?"

"Your neck is going all puffy. Like a fish." She comments helpfully.

"Thanks." I give her a comforting smile which doesn't reach my eyes.

I guess I won't be able to breathe soon if the wolf suppressant doesn't get out of my system; the swelling is no doubt further blocking my airway with every second that passes by.

Then I'll die as the Praetorian is unlikely to return anytime soon and there's no cameras in here for any guard to notice my current condition. I just hope Carrie will be okay. I hope he lets her go.

What am I going to do Jack?

I don't know. I doubt you can force your way out of here. And even if we did, the Praetorian probably won't care that we're dying.

You're right. I can't get out of here.

What about Carrie?

I should say goodbye. Wait! That's it! I can't get out of here but you could! All I need to do is shift.

No Iz,that won't work. I'm not strong enough to shift and break down the door. And if we did shift, unless there are guards directly outside, no one's going to find us before we die.

We have to try.

No Iz. We need to save our energy for breathing. The door is clearly solid metal and it's locked; we couldn't break it down if we tried. It's designed so no one gets in or out without the key.

"Isobel? You're breathing weird."

"I know." At least that's what I attempt to say; all that comes out is a croak, my airway nearly entirely blocked. My breaths are shallow and fast, my body struggling to get adequate oxygen to its lungs. I can't survive this. This is the end of the road for me. For me and Jack.

I'm sorry Iz. For everything. I wish I'd let you have control. Then we would never have killed anybody and you wouldn't have trespassed and we wouldn't be here.

I'm sorry too Jack. I should have trusted you. However, without you, we would never have met Isaac. So thank you. It's been a pleasure being your human.

And me, your wolf.

Goodbye. See you in the next life?

Perhaps. See you there.

The edge of my vision goes inky black and I can see the darkness creeping up on me. Carrie's saying something to me but I can neither hear nor understand her. Her mouth opens in silent laughter and the blood freezes in our veins.

SHIT.

Then everything fades to black.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys/girls/others,

Cliff hanger! And no it's not the end of the book yet. Isaac's POV next chapter. 🤗

Sorry for the wait like always.
WORxxx

(Runs for the hills before an impatient reader shoots me.)

33